Frances Johnson

135

C H on 25th February 2024

Old Bailey Online FRANCES JOHNSON. Theft; shoplifting. 2nd December 1795 Text type Trial account Defendants FRANCES JOHNSON Offences Theft > Shoplifting Session Date 2nd December 1795 Reference Number t17951202-20 Verdicts Guilty > Lesser offence Punishments Transportation 20. FRANCES JOHNSON was indicted for feloniously stealing twenty yards of muslin, value 5l. the property of Thomas Wooloton , privately in his shop , November 26th. JOHN RUNDELL sworn. I am clerk to John Woolloton , who keeps a linen-draper's shop , in Oxford-road : On the 26th of November, between three and four in the afternoon, the prisoner came to the shop; I was in the front shop, posting the books; she went into the back shop. Q. How many persons were in the front and back shops? - A. I believe about four; I saw the prisoner in the back shop, looking at some goods; after she went out of the shop, the person who was serving her went after her and brought her back, and accused her of stealing something; his name is Pennington; she said she was an innocent woman, and no thief, and made a number of excuses; we sent for a constable to search her; she wanted to get to the counter where the muslins were; we surrounded her, and kept her in the middle of the shop; the constable not coming very soon, I set a chair in the middle of the shop, and desired her to sit down; there was nothing on the ground then but the carpet; when the constable came, I proposed to go into a private room, and search her; she rose from her seat, and I saw a piece of muslin under her petticoats, on the floor; it was a piece of about twenty yards; it is charged 5l. it cost 6l. 5s. Q. It sells for more than that, I suppose? - A. Yes; more than that; I took it up, it felt warm; I gave it the constable; we then took her to a magistrate; her examination was taken down in writing; after the magistrate left the room, she said, she was not afraid of what we could do to her; she could live in another country as well as here, alluding, I suppose, to Botany Bay. On his cross-examination he said, his master was not in the shop, he was confined to his bed; that there were two persons in the shop besides Penhington and himself; that there were muslins lying on the counter; that they were about three yards from the fire, they might be more or less; that he did not know that they could be warm from the fire; he did not feel the other muslins; that she offered to be searched before the constable came; that they did not search her, but she turned her pockets inside out; that she had purchased something to the amount of fifteen or twenty shillings, and paid for it; that he did not say they had transported several women, and the prisoner would be a good one for Barrington. RICHARD PENNINGTON sworn. I live with Mr. Woolloton; On Thursday last I was in the front shop, the prisoner came in and asked to look at some clear muslins; I shewed her some; she said, she wished to see some whole pieces; she wanted a whole piece for a dress; then I asked her to walk into the back shop, and after looking some time, she made choice of one, which was to be 9l.; then, she said, she wanted to look at some sprig muslins, which I shewed her; what led me to suspect she was a shop-lister was, she asked to look at some Irish, for a body lining, at the same time; I told her the Irish linens were in the other shop, and desired her to walk there; she said it did not signify, she would not have it; she looked a long time at the sprig muslin before she would tell me whether she would have the sprig muslin, or the plain one she had chosen; at length she fixed on the plain one; she then asked to look at some remnants of printed cotton; all the pieces of plain muslin I had shewn were lying on the slab, in the back shop; I put them on the slab, at the end of the shop, to have a clear place to shew her the cottons; she bought two remants of cotton and two yards of flannel, which came to 19s. 6d.; she told me to send the muslin to No. 42, Newman-street, that night, at seven o'clock, or the next morning, at eleven, and she would pay for it; she afterwards said, if she did not call for it that night, I might send it the next morning; upon her going out of the shop, I followed her, and brought her back again; I stood on one side of her, and the clerk on the other, in order that she should not get rid of any property she had; she sat herself down in a chair, and upon her getting up, there was a piece of muslin under her petticoats, lying on the floor; it was taken by the constable to the Office; Mr. Rundell took it from the floor, and delivered it to the constable, immediately on his taking it up; he said it had been in a very warm place, for the muslin was very warm; I examined it; it is Mr. Woolloton's property; there is a private mark upon it, in Mr. Woolloton's hand-writing. Q. Did you take any pains to see if there were any missing? - A. It is impossible, the quantity is so great, to miss a piece; when she was brought back, and sat down in the chair, there was nothing on the floor. On his cross-examination, he said, she came back very readily; and upon his mentioning his suspicion, desired to be searched; that there was a third person there, but when the constable came in, he went out; that he believed the chair she sat in was about two yards from the counter; that when he took up the muslin, and found it warm, he felt the muslin on the counter, because the prisoner said, the muslin found under her was warm from the fire; that on the counter was not warm; that the chair she sat in was a yard, or more, from the fire. Being asked, if a person, going by, might not have brushed that muslin off the counter, he said, no; for they were not at that time on the counter; he had removed them, and put them on the slab; that they were on the counter when she was looking at them; and they were on the slab, at the end of the counter, when she was in the chair; that the muslins on the slab were nearer the fire than the piece he took from under her; that they did not search her on her being brought back, because they did not know that they had a right to search her without a constable; that she was searched by the constable, and afterwards by a woman, at the Office, but nothing was found upon her. Court. - Q. Did you look to see if there were any mark upon it? - A. Yes; the shop mark, in Mr. Woolloton's hand-writing; I put my name upon it at the Office; and there were the initials of the house, where it was bought, in his hand-writing; I don't know it by any other mark. JOSEPH DAVIS sworn. I am a constable; I was sent for to Mr. Woolloton's, on the 26th of November, between three and four in the afternoon; I found the prisoner sitting in a chair in the hack shop; Mr. Rundell and Mr. Pennington were with her; Mr. Rundell took up a piece of muslin from the floor, and gave it into my hand; it was close by the prisoner's feet; I took it and the prisoner to the Office; Mr. Pennington took it from me at the Office; and has kept it from that time to this; I should know it again, because I put my mark upon it. On his cross-examination, he said, there were some muslins on the counter, or slab, about two feet and a half from it; that they might have tumbled from that place to where she sat; that the made no objection to be searched; that there was nothing found upon her. Pennington. I received the muslin from the constable, at the Office, and have kept it ever since; it is my master's property; it cost 125s. it is marked G D; it is one of the muslins I shewed the prisoner. Court. Q. Do you mean to insist upon it, independent of the marks, that you shewed that piece of muslin to the prisoner? - A. Only from the marks. Q. Will you venture to swear that is one of the pieces you shewed her? - A. Yes, by the marks on it. Q. Will you swear you shewed her that piece? - A. I shewed her all that were in the wrapper. Q. Were all the plain muslins in the shop of that mark? - A. No. Q. Do you remember all the marks of the muslins you shewed her? - A. Yes. Prisoner. I leave my desence to my counsel. The prisoner called two witnesses, who gave her a good character. GUILTY, Of stealing, but not privately, in the shop .(Aged 24.) Tried by the second Middlesex Jury, before Mr. RECORDER.

338

Penny-Lyn Beale on 2nd August 2023

UK Criminal Registers - Criminal Entry Records. Ship; Lady Shore No; 25 Trial; 2 December 1795 Age; 24 years. [born abt. 1773] Place of Transportation; Beyond the Seas.